She kissed me on the forehead. “Don’t wait too long, Finn. If you do, she’ll move on.” Not taking her eyes off me, she added, “Isn’t that right, Wes?”
My head snapped up to look at Wes. He frowned, then looked away.
Angie and her friend headed out, though not before giving Flash some love. Once the door shut, I reached down for an unopened bottle of beer.
“What the fuck do they know?” I mumbled as I walked to the door that led to the balcony. The cool air felt crisp and clean.
Wes nodded. “Yeah. What do they know?”
Glancing at the beer in my hands, I turned to Wes. “I’m going for a run. I need to clear my head.”
—
Two weeks after Rory had written me her breakup letter, I was lying in my bed at the station and staring at the ceiling.
“Ward? You up for a run?”
Colton had been doing whatever he could to get my spirits lifted the last few weeks. None of it had worked, because I didn’t give a fuck about anyone or anything. Every time I saw Captain Adams, I looked the opposite way. I figured he would be rubbing it in. Giving me a smile that said he won and I lost. He didn’t do that, though. In fact, he seemed to be avoiding me as much as I avoided him.
I wouldn’t admit it to anyone, but I had sat in my car one day and waited all day hoping to see Rory. When a cab had pulled up and she’d emerged from it, my breath caught. She looked tired. I could see the same sadness on her face that I saw on mine every single morning. Before she’d walked into her building she’d stopped and looked around.
“Nah. I’m not in the mood.”
“Jesus, Finn. You’ve got to snap out of it. Either talk to her, or move on.”
I sat up and stared at him. “You still dating Melissa?”
His face dropped. “No. She broke things off a few weeks back.”
“Why?”
He shrugged. “I wouldn’t commit to the relationship.”
Frowning, I replied, “I’m sorry about that, dude.”
With a short, empty chuckle, he said, “It was my fault.”
Nodding, I asked, “You want to go out tonight?”
He grinned. “Are you going to sulk or try and enjoy yourself?”
I smiled. “I guess the only way to move on is to enjoy myself.”
“And is moving on what you want to do, Finn?”
Before I had a chance to answer, an alarm sounded and we both started hustling. The last fucking thing I wanted to do was go out. But if it meant forgetting the pain in my chest for a while, I was willing to give it a shot. I pulled my pants on, then my jacket. Grabbing my helmet, I slipped it on and went to get into the truck. Cap’s gaze caught mine. It was hard not to notice the sadness in his eyes.
“You got your head in the game, Finn?”
I wasn’t sure how to respond. Was he asking because he thought I couldn’t do my job? Or because he knew he was the reason his daughter and I were miserable?
“Always, sir. Always.”
He nodded. “Good.”
—
There was chaos at the scene. Residents of the building were all over the place, yelling at us to get the fire out. They were losing everything. A lady screamed that her dog was still in the house and begged Colton and me to go in and get him. Captain Adams nodded for us to enter the brownstone.